KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Albion College pitcher Erin Giannotta wasn't dominant at the Osceola County Softball Complex Sunday, but she was powerful. The senior from St. Clair Shores threw 175 pitches until Claire Cannon, her catcher, came through with the game-winning hit as the Britons survived a 2-1 10-inning battle with Hiram College on an unseasonable Florida morning with temperatures in the 50s and the wind blowing across the field at least 15 MPH the entire game.

Giannotta labored in the second as Jessica Bolanz and Miranda Wright sandwiched walks around Ashley Pike's single as Hiram loaded the bases with no outs. Fine defense by the Britons, including Cannon's throw to first to pickoff a runner, helped Giannotta escape the frame with just one run allowed.

She did not yield any more runs, though Hiram loaded the bases in the fourth and advanced a runner to third in the fifth. The defensive play of the game came in the 10th as Hiram tried to plate the go-ahead run with a squeeze bunt. Samantha Kolling, Albion's third base player, charged the bunt, and got the ball to Cannon in time to tag the runner out at home.

Cannon produced the game-winning run as she laced a line drive over the head of the Hiram shortstop to bring Kaitlyn Downey across the plate. Alyssa Castillo collected Albion's other RBI as her first-inning single scored Jessica Koehler.

Giannotta's final line included five hits and eight walks with eight strikeouts.

Albion managed five hits in a 2-1 loss to Muskingum University in its second game of the day. Downey allowed back-to-back hits to Hannah Reese and Jendy Weppler to lead off the fifth and they both came in to score. The Britons did not go down quietly as Sophie Nielsen sent a two-out single to left field to score Castillo.

Albion, now 1-3 on its spring break trip, returns to the Osceola County Softball Complex Monday afternoon for games against the University of Mount Union and the United States Coast Guard Academy. Join Bobby Lee, Albion's director of news & sports information, at http://media.albion.edu/sports for the internet broadcast of both games. The first pitch of the Albion-Mount Union contest set for 1 p.m.